Tag Archive | knitting

Just a quickie

I’m about halfway through the Fade now! I started melting in the third color last night and I love how the change is so subtle. This is just a couple of rows but I’m loving how the yarns are playing together. See that bit of red at the top? That’s really the only change from the previous yarn, and it’s just popping up here and there right now. I was so happy to get that color started, too, because this project is fading in enjoyment for me. It’s just not my happy colors. But I have to admit it looks cool and it will be a pretty nifty shawl when it’s done.

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Beyond that, things are looking up, at least today. Sometimes I just need to remember to force myself to get out of my house, out of my head. After resting my strained calf at home on Monday, I went back to work yesterday, even drove myself, and it was good to be around people, good to get my mind off the negative things it’s been dwelling on. The muscle is improving quickly, though I’m still being careful and taking the meds, so that helps my mindset too. I even got a little excited thinking about some new review yarn coming my way, instead of feeling stressed about it. New yarn for the win, as always!

Happy Hump Day, friends! Hope the rest of the week flies by!

When it rains, it pours

Jun10

Because I wasn’t stressed out enough lately, the fates decided I needed another challenge. Yesterday I stepped down weird off a step stool and heard a pop in my calf, then felt extreme pain. SUPER. I am so lucky and grateful to have good health insurance and I was able to go to the ER to get checked out for breaks, tears, and blood clots. They decided it was probably just a bad muscle strain and prescribed an NSAID, rest, ice, and elevation. Plus, since it’s my right calf, no driving for a couple of days to give the muscle time to rest and avoid straining it more. And since I took time off last week for my MIL’s service and some mental health time, now I’ve got the guilt from being home again. The sister pointed out that I had a good reason last week, and I have a good reason today, and of course logically I know she’s right. Yet there’s the guilt, still hovering. WhatEVER. Sometimes I hate my brain.

Let’s distract with some knitting, shall we? Here’s my Fade progress.

I went through so many project pages on Ravelry and didn’t find many helpful notes for a 4-color fade, but I got enough to give me confidence to move on. Rather than frog back to fade in the yellow garter section, I was a rebel and did the color melting in the lace section, and I think it looks fine. I did a longer melt than in the pattern, to use as much yellow as I could, and now I’m halfway through the second skein. This shawl is going to take forever, I think. As much as I love the look, I don’t know if I’ll want to make another one for myself once this one is done.

Hope you all are having a better start to the week than me!

Back to knitting

Jun8

Things are weird around here. My head isn’t quite right; the experience with my mother-in-law brought back a lot of feelings about my dad and I’m struggling to get on top of them again. Added to that are a few smaller things weighing on me, and it’s all feeling heavy. I haven’t been excited or eager about knitting, so I’ve just been forcing myself to work on my Fade while I watch the French Open.

But here’s the thing: I think it’s getting better. I took two days off after the service and have been spending time with the husband and kids, who are all home this week too, and that’s been good. I had dinner with my siblings, who always make me laugh. My dogs have been nearby, ready for snuggles. And Thursday I cast on a new sock with yarn that was calling my name. So I’m getting there. Day by day, right? In the spirit of easing back into my routines, I’ll show you what I found at an estate sale this week.

VRdkZHfST52b2rxLaVi7kw The two smaller blue cakes are Koigu fingering weight merino, which came with the unlabeled cake of worsted. The two WIPs I mostly bought for the needles. I’m not sure which brand they are but they remind me of Addi needles. I’ve already frogged the projects, and the big ball of red/blue/white will probably become warm socks for my Colorado girl. And here’s my new yarn, an impulse purchase after seeing it on Instagram.

Z%QLZCKHTxOtf4Bw1pHqGw It’s called Pride in the name of Love, and is an exclusive color from Three Irish Girls for Eat.Sleep.Knit. I kind of had to get it, right? Purple and rainbow! If you feel similarly compelled, it looks like they still have some in stock here.

With any luck, I’ll get a good photo of my Fade progress this weekend, and I can show that off soon. Happy weekend, friends!

Stress Knitting

May29

My break from my Fade led me back to sock knitting, which has become the best kind of knitting when nothing else will do. It’s good for when you’re visiting someone who’s unwell, and it’s good for when you’re tracking a tornado that might or might not be coming right your way. Unfortunately, that means this sock has grown a lot this week. When I picked it up on Sunday, I had just the cuff knit.

I made it past the gusset decreases today so I expect to have it done by the end of the week, barring any surprises.

Last night, the girl surprised me by doing some cleaning and cooking a bona fide feast for us. She made carnitas tacos (even deboned and cut up the pork shoulder herself!), lime/cilantro rice, guacamole, and pico de gallo. She also cut up limes to squeeze over everything, and it was all sooo delicious! It really helped brighten a day that desperately needed brightening. I also got to see the boy’s excitement over his first car!

It’s a 1963 Mercury Comet Custom, and he is seriously in love. It needs some work but runs well, and he and his dad can’t wait to start fixing it up. And even though I’m afraid it’ll be a little bit of a money pit, I have to admit it’s a pretty sweet car.

Hope the storms missed the rest of you last night too!

Stupid Fade

May28

This is not going well. My Fade shawl is currently in time-out and maybe you can help me. I’m using 4 colors instead of 7, and I thought I had a good plan for the color switches, but when I got to the first planned switch, I still had half the first skein left. If I switched then, I was afraid I’d run out of the other colors before I got to the end of the shawl. (I have ~1700 yards; it uses anywhere from 1500-1800 depending on which project page you look at.) So right now I’m at the end of section 5, out of 13, with 37 grams of the first skein still left. I have several choices that I can see.

Be risky and frog back about ten rows to fade in the second color as I’d planned. If I run out at the end, I would have to end early or finish with the first color.
Do section 6 (lace) in the yellow and start fading at the beginning of section 7. The downside I can see is that I might end up with a very large yellow section, compared to the other colors.
Start fading in the second color in section 6, even though the pattern recommends doing the color melts in the garter stitch sections and not the lace.

Please help me. I know this really shouldn’t be this difficult, but there are some other things going on that are sapping my capacity for thinking and stuff. Thank goodness I have good dogs to snuggle with.

And look at my new stitch markers! Those are MY DOGS! They’re from Jill’s Beaded Knit Bits. I sent her a photo of my dogs and she made these and I love them so much!

All about that Fade

May23

Somehow I have turned into a monogamous knitter. It’s the weirdest thing. But it means that I’ve been working solely on my Find Your Fade shawl and as of last night, I am in section three. Here’s how it looked at the end of section two:

Weird, right? Like a thong, or a uterus, or ram horns. But I am assured that this is how it looks for everyone and it will grow up to become a normal Find Your Fade shawl. I’ve even planned out my fade sequence, thanks to the little graphic at the end of the pattern.

I had to color it twice to get the sequence I liked best, which is the one on the left that will allow me to use as much yellow as possible. But I have a confession to make: the Fade is a little…boring? I hate to say that because it’s such a popular pattern. Maybe it’s just because it’s not a color I like that much and I’m in a big garter section. Surely it’ll perk up once I get back to lace and start fading in a new color.

And in other news, Duncan has not reached the point of not chewing things up.

In his defense, this bed already had some holes from a few months ago when I tested Duncan the first time, so he might have just expanded on his earlier work. Still, he’s back to his beach towel on the floor for now.

Ready to Fade!

May21

My new yarn arrived yesterday, a set of four skeins from Bumblebee Acres Farm in a Game of Thrones-inspired fade. My colors are Lannister themed but they have plenty of other choices. This is for my commissioned shawl and even though these aren’t my colors at all, I’m excited to make it for her. The yarn is called Butter Sock, with 70% Merino, 20% Silk, 10% Cashmere, so it’ll be a treat to knit with and cozy to wear. (I’m pretty sure she’s never going to see this blog, so hopefully it will be a surprise when it’s done.)

I chose the Find Your Fade pattern so she’ll have a big squishy wrap to keep her warm, and because I’ve been wanting to make one for ages. I cast on at first with the recommended size four needles, but quickly decided I wanted a tighter gauge and started over with size three. Warmth is key, and I think it will still come out plenty big! I haven’t gotten very far, maybe 15 rows in, and I haven’t planned out the color changes for my four-color fade yet. I need another weekend to spend with my Fade!

We’ve had days and days of rain and gray skies, which makes me just want to curl up and knit even more than usual. Hope you’ve got sunshine where you are!

FO Monday?

May20

Why isn’t FO Monday a thing? I mean, most of us are coming off a weekend where hopefully we’ve had some knitting time, if not substantial chunks, so it seems like Mondays would be the perfect day to show off finished projects. I’ll start: I knit a sock this weekend! On Saturday morning, I had an inch of cuff for my second River Fleet sock, and last night, I grafted the toe. Of course, it was the second toe because first I had this:

These socks do not match.

I couldn’t live with that much difference, not when it was easily fixed. I pulled back just the toe and reknit so they’d (mostly) match. Even then, the second sock seemed bigger overall than the first sock. I was disgusted with myself for the lack of matchiness so I tossed them to the girl to try on.

These socks also do not match.

It’s not super obvious, but the lace doesn’t match. Somehow, the second sock has an extra repeat in the foot. I have no idea if the first was right or the second is right, and at this point, frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn. They are done, they are pretty, and the girl can get them on her feet and they fit. I’m calling it a win and moving on.

The pattern is River Fleet Socks by Jem Arrowsmith, which I test knit. I really do love the lace on this one. I’m just learning I need to pay close attention when I knit lace! The yarn is Knit Picks Capretta Reserve, with 10% cashmere, in Vibrant Violet. I’ll be interested to see how they wear with the cashmere.

And today is Duncan’s birthday. He is three, which I hope means we’re moving past the long stage of chewing things up. He’s been doing much better the last few months so I’m cautiously optimistic. Here he is from adoption day to now! Spoiler: he’s a lot bigger.

Hope you also had a lot of knitting time this weekend!

I’m getting there

May14

Last night I pulled out my naughty shawl, the one that had the stitch count issues the other day. I counted my stitches, all 383 of them, and realized that I was only off by one stitch at that point. I spread out the lace as best I could on the cord, and the lace pattern looked okay, not all wonky, so I decided it would be fine to continue on and not frog back to before all the craziness started. I got about six rows done by 9 pm, and I really wanted to finish since I only had six rows left before the bind off, but with each row almost 400 stitches, it wasn’t gonna happen. But it should be done and blocking by end of day Sunday!

779a3eb7-fc83-4027-8119-ab80c4099f99 I’ve been making sock progress too, during my lunch breaks at work. This is my Pickle Juice/Belle Star sock, and I’m past the gusset now.

It’s a good thing this shawl is almost done, because I have five skeins on the way for the commissioned shawl for my work friend, so I’ll be able to switch my focus to that. But there’s also a little short-sleeved sweater I want to knit, and I have a second sock in my WIPs, and my Changing Staircases shawl, plus this sock and its mate. Clearly I need more knitting time in my life!

HOW does this happen?

May13

As you all know, I got new yarn last week, after the husband came home from Colorado. It is beautiful yarn and I love it! But somehow, I STILL ended up at my LYS on Friday afternoon, buying more yarn.

See, I’d been itching to visit them for a few weeks, but they were hosting a trunk show over Mother’s Day weekend for a dyer new to me, and I wanted to check out her yarns. So I waited, not knowing the husband would be bringing me new yarn. And Friday came and it was a super long day and I really needed some retail therapy so I went. I just went. And it was good.

Except there was no one there to make me feel guilty for buying so much. And the one friend I texted encouraged me to treat myself, so…I did. And I love my new bag and my gorgeous new purple yarns from Honey Girl Farms! She had a lot of pop culture themed yarns, lots of Game of Thrones and Outlander, but also a few Harry Potter. She’s got amazing project bags on her website; at first I wished she’d brought some but then I was kind of glad she didn’t. Anyway, I came home and played with yarn and I’m pretty sure I have an amazing fade begging to be knit:

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I would have cast on yesterday, but I’m trying to finish my test knit shawl. I’m in the last section but I’m afraid I’m going to have to frog about five or six rows, rows that are around 350 stitches. Somehow, my wine convinced me that I could fudge a lace pattern that was off by several stitches. I don’t think it went well but I’ll check on it tonight. I’m pretty sure I’ll be wishing I’d put in a lifeline at some point.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend, especially my fellow Moms!